14 Random Prompts of Love
by RosesAndCrosses
Summary: 14 Random Prompts of Love for Jaina Solo and Jagged Fel that was supposed to be for Valentines but I didn't finish it in time, so they will be posted here over time.
1. Chapter 1

**10\. "You're hungover. You're not dying."**

The strange thing about a hangover was that waking up was a completely different experience from the average day.

Where you would normally feel refreshed and ready for the day ahead, you now felt drained and immediately ready to sleep again. Where the light would usually be welcoming, it was now blinding. The need to eat was replaced by a need to empty all contents of your stomach and the content feeling of early morning was switched to a feeling of regret and shame.

Jaina Solo had indulged in many a bottle of beer the previous night with her old friends from her days at the military. The group of former pilots had been through a lot together and separately but the one thing that always remained a constant in all of their lives was the memories they shared flying together. Unfortunately, Jaina had forgotten the extent that pilots could drink and she had not properly prepared herself for the night she was in for. This resulted in her not getting home until at least five in the morning, getting sick in the toilet for what felt like forever and passing out on the bathroom floor. She had somehow, with all the strength of the force, managed to hall herself off up and stumble into bed and curl into the ball she was now in.

Although she had felt herself wake up a while ago, she hadn't opened her eyes yet. However, she had heard the banging in her head that had started to feel like a physical throbbing. She could also feel the weight of every single one of her muscles weighing down into the mattress like a ton of bricks and her joints ached, probably from the heels, she thought to herself resentfully. In an attempt to get more comfortable and ease the pain she was in, she turned away from the open blind that was currently pouring light into the room, but as she twisted her body she felt a twinge in her stomach, a threat not to do that again if she wanted to remain in the bed and not on the bathroom floor again.

So, to say that she was not enjoying the waking up experience on this particular day, was an understatement.

Still not opening her eyes, she pushed her pillow under her head and tried to remain as still as she could, trying desperately not to trigger her upset stomach.

A couple of minutes later, she could feel the heaviness in her head slowly turn into the edge of sleep and she swore she had started dreaming when she heard the access code chime and the click of the front door of the apartment open. Hearing movement in the kitchen and the thrashing of cutlery, she secretly prayed that he wasn't making her breakfast as he sometimes he did when she was still in bed.

After a few minutes she could feel a presence, his presence, at the door of the room.

As he laughed lightly, she could practically see him with the stupidly cute grin he usually had on his face when he was relaxed and shake his head as he walked into the room. She all of a sudden found herself needing to see him and cursed herself for how desperate she was.

Peaking one eye open, she saw Jag standing by her locker, with a cup of what appeared to be caf, in his hand. He was dressed in his usual casual wear that he wore when he didn't have to go into the office. His lose combat trousers were held up by a belt and his black t-shirt was tucked into them. The shirt wasn't long sleeved, which was rare for him, and it showed off his arms that look particularly impressive when he reached over to put the cup down and his muscles were strained against his skin. He obviously only recently got out of the shower as his hair was still slightly wet and the light stubble he had yesterday, was gone.

Before he looked back in her direction she quickly closed her eye again, trying to give off the impression that she was still asleep.

However, before she could start her fake snoring, she felt a dip in the mattress and a hand sweeping the hair away from her face.

"Good morning, sleepy." She heard him whisper into her ear and she felt the goosebumps rise along her neck. As he dipped his head down to kiss them away, she let out an involuntary moan, which sounded more like a whimper as her body forced her to suffer the consequences of her actions. "It's almost lunch time."

"That means I haven't been asleep that long then" She said as her voice came out as a croak and she turned her head slightly to meet his gaze. His grin had turned into a full smile as she opened both of her eyes and felt his hand rest on her side.

"What time did you get in at?"

"Late enough to bump into Corran on his morning run." She said filled with regret. "I'm going to have to do some major memory wiping later."

"It's kind scary that you are only half joking."

"You know me so well." She sighed as she leaned into the palm of his hand that was resting on the pillow.

He bent down to kiss her forehead as the rest of his body stood up from the bed.

"Close the blind, will you?" Jaina mumbled while she threw her head into the pillow.

"No way" he said nonchalantly from across the room.

Taken by surprise, Jaina snapped her head up and, immediately regretting it, quickly lowered herself back down onto the comfort of the pillow as she spoke.

"What? Why not?"

"Because we are going to lunch" Jag said in a matter-of-fact tone as he lifted the cup off the locker.

Not in any mood to joke, Jaina gave him her bone chilling scowl, that would intimidate a sith lord on an average day.

"I am not going to lunch Jag. If I leave this bed, I will physically combust. My insides may suddenly become external."

"You're hungover. You're not dying."

"Easy for you to say with your perfectly hydrated organs and non-intoxicated brain."

Even though she could see the humor in his eyes, as he moved towards the bed for the second time, this with the caf, she could tell he was about to become serious. It was the way his eyebrows rose up as the muscles in his face twisted into a serious expression.

Handing her the caf, she finally shifted slightly so that she was slouching against the headboard. Not quite sitting up but also not lying down. It was only then that she had fully registered that she was still wearing the sparkly top she had worn out last night, but when she lifted the covers, she saw she was wearing the sleep shorts she kept under her pillow.

Half way wasn't bad, she thought to herself, considering how drunk she was.

"Come on Jaina, it's the only full day I've had off in forever, and who the hell knows how long it will be till I get the next one? I want to spend it with my girlfriend, not bored and alone."

He was right of course. She couldn't remember the last time he didn't have to go into the office at least once in a day or a time they were together when he wouldn't have to go answer a com call. The stress was literally chipping away at him to the point where he would often come over with dark circles under his eyes, barely able to stay awake through dinner.

She tried not to bug him too much about it, but it was hard seeing someone you love, or rather not seeing someone, under so much pressure. Along with the fact since she officially came back to work with the Jedi after her prolonged leave that she had taken, she had also been busy and their time together was slashed yet again.

"You should have come with me last night!"

"No, because then there would be no one to drag you out of this pit today, now would there?"

She wanted to spend time with him so much, especially when he was giving her that look, which was filled with both guilt and longing, exhaustion yet enthusiasm, but if she moved she may spend the day puking all over him. Which would he enjoy more?

"Look, I'll go out with you, but just let me sleep for like an hour. Then we can go out for dinner, ok? We can even go to that awful cheap place that has the minx soup that you love, if you want."

Accepting that she wasn't in any state to move at this present time and realizing that this was the best deal he was going

to get, he rolled his eyes and nodded his head while turning toward the door. Suddenly her hand caught his wrist before he could move any further and he turned back to see her eyes silently urging him.

"Don't leave. Get in."

"What?"

"Get into bed for a while with me."

In all honesty he didn't want to in to bed. He had been up for many hours now and had even gone for a run, had a shower and made his way over to Jaina's apartment. He wasn't enticed to get back into bed and have to basically start his day again when he woke up the second time. However, he knew it was his turn to compromise as Jaina had just done moments ago and when Jaina saw the look he gave her, she knew she had him. If he was going to have said no, he wouldn't be thinking it over.

After letting out an excepting sigh, he nodded and bent down to unhook his boots.

Jaina, grinning, reached up to put the caf on the headboard of the bed and by the time she had shifted across the bed to make room for Jag, he had stripped himself of his trousers and was reaching behind his neck to pull his shirt over his head.

As he climbed into the bed, they both rearranged themselves until they finally settled into a position that entangled their bodies together with Jaina lying on Jag's chest and his arm around her waist. When they had been still for a couple of moments, Jag felt Jaina turned her head up to look at him and he took the opportunity to look at her face closely.

It was clear that she was exhausted by the black circles under her eyes and there was an obvious color of grey that covered her face. Her hair was disheveled and had curled around the sides of her head like it did after she slept on it. She also looked clammy and had a light layer of sweat covering her face. Yet, her eyes were still shining as they stared up at him and the deep brandy brown color drew him so that he found it hard to look away. Yet, he did look away, but only as far as her lips which were a deep shade of pink, most likely from her chewing on her lip like she did sometimes in her sleep and her tongue came out to lick her lips.

He couldn't help but lean down and kiss her. He felt her lean into the kiss and lift her hand off his chest and move it to his neck to pull him closer. However, he was cautious not to deepen the kiss too much, at least not right now when she could have to vomit at any time.

When he pulled away, she kept her eyes closed and leaned back down to lie on his shoulder, as if the simple action alone had taken all her energy.

"It takes a special type of man to kiss someone after they puked."

Jag smiled at her comment, even though he knew she couldn't see him and moved his hand to rest on her back while simultaneously kissing the top of her head.

"Isn't that the truth?" he mumbled into her hair and he felt her lightly laugh and almost immediately after he felt her breathing change and it was obvious she had fallen asleep again.

Feeling a sense of overwhelming comfort by the whole situation, Jag silently admitted to himself that there was no where he would rather be on a day like this and with that final thought, he closed his eyes and joined Jaina in sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Destruction.

That was the only word he could use to describe the scene around him.

Utter destruction.

It had been four days since he had arrived on Coruscant and two days since they had gotten word that Ben Skywalker had been rescued and Abeloth had been defeated, for now.

The time had been spent mainly trying to aid the locals who had been caught in the crossfire of the latest battle, while also trying to clear the rubble that was once large parts of city world. This had meant hard labor for almost four days straight and although he had had the help of dozens of Jedi, he was still on the verge of exhaustion.

He could feel every muscle in his body physically ache, a headache was constantly at the base of his skull and the cuts and scrapes he had acquired over the days were scattered all over his body. Yet, the worst feeling was in his heart, which he felt was constantly in his throat and his stomach that dropped with every single thought of _her_.

They had been apart in times like this before. Times where he didn't know for sure If he was dead or alive, times where he hadn't heard from her for days or times when all he heard was awful things about her situation and there was nothing he could do about it.

However, this time was somehow different.

Maybe it was the fact that in the two weeks since they had seen each other, they had both encountered death more times than they could count on two hands. It also hadn't helped that he had only learned about the true extent of her injuries when she went head to head with Abeloth _after_ she had left the system where he couldn't hold her and feel her breath. He couldn't confirm in his own mind that she was ok and that she was safe.

It only hurt more knowing for a fact that she felt the same way, thousands of light years away.

They had gotten the signal at 0430 hours that morning, calling for them to expect the shuttle to land at 0900 hours later that morning.

Jag had been waiting at the docking bay, if you could call it that anymore, since 0700, unable to focus on anything else. Through the hours, more and more people had come to wait at the pile of rubble surrounding the various damaged crafts that were scattered around, with one boarding ramp elevated in preparation for the vessel that would soon be approaching.

First it was the engineers, desperate at the thought of having a semi-intact ship at their hands to use for the rescue efforts. They came in early, getting all of the equipment ready, almost as if they were preparing to revive a human patient.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, the paramedics came in through the automatic double doors. It had been stressed in the signal that the Grand master was in a critical state and would need immediate assistance once they landed on site. There was no mention of how the other people on board were, but the fact that the Grand master was out of action meant that Jaina was more than likely flying, which was a good thing in terms of her wellbeing.

Next who came were a fourteen-man squadron of elite troopers who spread out into formation around the parameter. Due to the aggressive nature of the encounter they had all had with Abeloth, tension was high and the possibility that this vessel could bring more threats to the population was a chance the government was unable to take.

Jagged understood.

After all, if there was a threat onboard he would want to be the first to make sure it was obliterated. That's why he took his blaster off his holder on his utility belt and flicked the safety on as he leaned against one of the large pieces of rubble that must have fallen from the ceiling. He tried to focus on the mess on the ground as oppose to the mess in his head, but his efforts proved futile.

The last people to enter the hanger were the Solos. Han and Leia Solo were the last family that the three Jedi onboard the vessel had, besides himself and Alanna of course. Yet Jag was pretty confident that bringing a child the site where she could see her aunt, cousin and grand-uncle seriously injured or distressed was not ideal, so she had remained behind, at least for now.

He had seen them mere hours ago, but the sight of them already put him at ease and as they walked towards him he felt himself lean into their embraces. The wait had been as agenizing for them as it had been for him and he couldn't imagine having to do this knowing the pain of losing a child already. Two, in fact.

"She's ok" Leia commented quietly as she noticed Jag fidget with the handle of his blaster, the only indication that he was anything other than deathly calm. "You know that, right?"

Jag nodded and tried his hardest to put on a smile in an attempt to ease the tension, but the result was only a slight tug on the corner of his lips upwards. He thought about attempting again, but at that exact moment the alarm signaling that the ship was entering the atmosphere and preparing to land.

The siren made everyone in the room jump to attention. The Solo's moved back and let the medical attendants move forward, closer to the boarding ramp and the troopers moved into defense formation and aimed their blasters at the vacant space where the ship would soon be landing.

From the sky, a black dot slowly came into view and slowly began to get bigger the closer it came to the landing dock. From the outside, you could see the ship had taken heavy fire and was on its last legs. It was put down with a hiss and the click of it being secured onto the dock could be heard while a fresh roll of steam came out from the engine as it slowed to a stop.

After a few moments of silence, the blue light on the connector belt flashed, alerting the engineers that the pilot was ready to unlock the door and everyone began to move into position, which included the troopers moving to surround the craft. The general, commander of the GA troops, stepped forward to approach the slope connecting the hanger to the door of the ship.

"No, wait!" Jag heard himself call from the corner of the room. The general turned around and saw Jagged move swiftly towards him until he was face to face with him. "Let me go first."

Jag could see the instant reluctance in his eyes as he wracked his eyes up and down his body. He stopped at the blaster in his hand and Jag knew exactly what was on the general's mind. He immediately reached down and took the safety off the weapon while he moved it into an advanced position, proving to the general that he was more than capable of defending himself from whatever possible threat could be lurking in the ship.

"Don't worry General, I've been doing this a long time before you were even granted entry into this military." Jag said while letting a slight tone of reassurance slip into his voice, hoping it would ease the commander's fears.

The General gave him one more look up and down before nodding curtly and calling for his men to step aside and let him through.

Without hesitation, Jag briskly walked up the incline and it was only when he reached the door that he let any hesitation seep into his brain. He truly didn't know what situation he might be walking into. Anything could be waiting on the other side, not to mention something that could be harming his fiancé. However, before he had time to even raise his gun in anticipation, the door of the vessel swung vertically open and what can only be described as a five-foot, brunette mess stood in front of him.

She was wearing a black jumpsuit and a black combat jacket, both of which were soiled and torn in various places. Her face was covered in cuts and a particular one on her wrist looked deep enough to require a few days in a bacta sling. The Knees of her jumpsuit had muck and sand on them, indicating that she had fallen to the ground and because her hair was tied up in a high pony tail, he could see a burn on the side of her neck, one that he knew could only have come from a lightsaber. He was also troubled by the fact that she was very obviously leaning heaving on one side, with one hand reaching out to press the control panel and the other was hovering over her side. He could only guess that the internal injuries she obtained from her fighting in the temple wasn't fully healed and now that she had stopped running on adrenaline, it was hurting her again.

Suddenly, their eyes met and everything else in the entire galaxy ceased to exist.

Although her eyes reflected obvious exhaustion, a shine could be seen deep in them and everything that they needed to say was suddenly transferred as if through thought alone.

Her lip began to quiver and before she could fully break into tears, he dropped his blaster and felt her jump into his arms. He could hear the blaster hit the ground as if it was at a distance and he heard her sobs in the crook of his neck as he clung to her with everything he had.

Even though the rest of the universe almost ceased to exist around them, Jag still had the sense to move to the left as the paramedics ran in to the ships quarters to retrieve the grand master. He felt the bar of the hand grip on his back and he leaned against it as he pulled Jaina as hard as he could against his chest. He felt her ravaged breathing against him and could only thank the force that she had the life left in her to do it.

Pulling back, he felt her arms around his neck drop to his shoulders and her face lean up to look at him in the eyes. Hers were as brown as ever but the gold rim that often appeared in them when she cried were shining as bright as the sun and he couldn't help but reach up and take her face in the palm of his hands as he felt her sobbing subside and her breathing steady. When she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch he slowly leaned forwards and caught her in a kiss that was filled with love, desperation and relief. He tasted her tears on his lips and just as he was about to pull back she deepened it further.

When they finally both did pull back, he was caught off guard by her once again throwing herself back into his arms, except this time instead of her arms thrown around his neck, they were now clinging to the black t-shirt he wore. The ferocity of which she threw herself into him through off his balance and he leaned back to grip the railing and both of them fell back.

They both ended up on the ground with her in his lap and his arms clinging her tight around her shoulders.

"It's ok, I've got you" he whispered in her ear as her crying picked back up again.

They stayed like that for who knows how long, her clinging to him while he rubbed his hands up and down her back while whispering in her ear. That was until Jag felt the hand of the leading paramedic on his shoulder, forcing him to look up.

"Sorry commander, we need to get Master Solo into the bacta tank sooner rather than later."

Jag nodded and leaned down to Jaina's ear to whisper in her ear, "come on Jaina, we need to go."

However, when she refused to move, he gripped the railing again and pulled them both up off the ground. When the medics came up to him with a gurney, eager for him to put Jaina on it, he waved them off and instead bent down and hooked one arm under her knees and picked her up off the ground and carry her swiftly towards the entrance.

Usually she wouldn't have let him do this, especially in front of a room full of people, but weather it was due to exhaustion or just pure disinterest in anything else but him, she closed her eyes and let him take her down to the hall.

As they passed the Solos, who had been keeping their distance, Leia reached out to run her hand through Jaina's hair and bent to kiss her on the head as Han took the lead to make sure that there was a free and direct walk straight to the med bay.

Although the life of a Jedi was one of hardship, constant danger and often turmoil, it definitely had its perks.

In a private room in the med bay on the far side of the planet, Jag sat up on a large recovery bed that he was sure could fit at least four people. The one window in the room was flooding the recovery area and on every surface of the room, including the windowsill and the bedside table, were filled with flowers. There was also as much food as anyone could ever want at their disposal and on the hour monitoring of all patients was religiously upheld. It was safe to say that Jaina was in the best facility possible and after a three-day stint in a bacta tank, she was now on a two-day monitoring to make sure her liver, which was torn and her lung, which was punctured, was fully healed.

That's where Jagged found himself now, sitting up on her bed with paperwork spread out in front of him. Jaina on the other hand, still exhausted, was passed out lying next to him and tucked into his side with her arm slung over his midsection. Every so often she would stir and shift slightly, but besides the small movements, she had yet to show any significant signs of waking up since she had fallen asleep in this very position nearly three hours prior.

Restless while waiting for her to wake, Jag took the opportunity to look over the final preparations for the pass over of the military power to the new Head of state of the galactic empire. This final step was probably the most crucial as it was essential that the military was passed over efficiently and the threat of a coup was eliminated swiftly.

"Jag?" he heard from the across the room. When he looked up he saw Cilghal standing just in the doorway to the room. "Can you give me a hand with one of the monitors? It seems to be working up and I know you know your way around an electoral box."

Laughing lightly, he put down papers and quickly replied, "sure".

Moving slowly so that he wouldn't disturb his sleeping fiancé, he moved her arm from his torso and placed it gently on the bed next to her. He then turned to get off the bed, trying to not disrupt his paperwork, but before he could push himself off the bed, Jaina woke with a start and grabbed his arm. Her breath was suddenly harsh, and her eyes were wild as she frantically looked around her to gather her bearings.

Quickly Jag turned back around and faced her as she was in the mist of her obvious panic attack.

"Hey" he said as he rubbed her arms trying to calm her. "It's ok, you're ok. Breathe."

As the moments passed, Jag caught the eye of Cilghal who nodded in complete understanding, as only a Jedi could do and slowly backed out of the room.

Slowly Jaina began to calm down as she realized where she was. The panic attacks had mainly stopped by this point and he hadn't seen one this bad since soon after Darth Ceadus had been taken down. The recurrence of the panic attacks had only solidified Jag's thinking that the encounter with Abeloth had been worse than Jaina was willing to divulge.

"Sorry" she said shaking her head as she slowly let go of the vice grip on his forearm. "Go on I'm fine."

Almost as soon as she had let go of his arm, he had grabbed her now free hand with his own, causing her to look up at him again.

"I wasn't going anywhere" he said almost nonchalantly.

"Jag seriously, it's fine."

"Jaina seriously, I wasn't going anywhere." With that he moved back to his sitting position on the bed and indicated with a nod of his head to lie back down.

Her eyes flicked from his face to his outstretched arm and then back again. Even though he knew she knew he had lied, as she settled back into his arms and he kissed her on the top of the head, he realized she didn't care enough to call him out on it.


	3. Chapter 3

p class="MsoNormal"Jagged Fel looked into his wardrobe with equal amount of frustration and uneasiness./p  
p class="MsoNormal"All he could see a sea of grey as he looked upon six identical suits. He was about to take them down from their individual wracks and pack them in one of the carry bags he was currently putting his belongings in, when he suddenly stopped himself./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He wouldn't need them anymore, he thought to himself./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Yet, leaving them behind felt somewhat wrong. Victor was not stepping into his shadow, he was creating a whole new one for himself, and the thought of the metaphorical representation of giving him his own suits felt too ironic even for Jag./p  
p class="MsoNormal"However, he was in a hurry to get out of Empirical space as fast as he could, so the suits would have to stay where they were./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He was officially no longer the Head of State, and although he would still be protected as long as he was here, the militaries focus was now on their incoming leader as opposed to their exiting one. This meant he was vulnerable to attacks and Jag was not naive enough to think that once his reign as leader was over, so were the threats against his life./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He knew he would be exponentially safer once he was out of the system and heading towards Alliance space./p  
p class="MsoNormal"However, if he was being honest, the speedy departure had less to do with the risk to his life and more so to do with this risk of his future wife's./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He hadn't heard anything about Jaina in nearly a full standard day, and not her own voice for even longer than that. He had been told that she had substantial injuries and although she was out of the temple, the medical centres were overcrowded, and the messenger wasn't sure if they could get her the appropriate med ward, at least not until the battle was over, which Jag knew wasn't good enough. Before he could ask any questions, the messenger signed off and Jag was left in the abyss of the unknown yet again, with only his faith and hope that the other Jedi could give Jaina the help she needed in time./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Yet, no matter how fast he tried to go, he felt frustrated at how long the process of taking four years of your life out of one room and putting it in a bag could take. His usual neat and tidy approach had been abandoned and the flung and shove approach had been fully adopted as he through his belongings into the bags./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He pulled the zipper on the two bags and did one last sweep of the quarters to make sure everything was gone. The drawers were empty, the bathroom was rid of all toiletries, his watches had been removed from the counters and the holoframes that were on the bedside table were stowed away in the side compartment of his carry bag./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Satisfied that he had everything, he turned around and reached for the door handle, but before he could bring himself to leave, he had the strong urge to turn back around. As he did, he saw not just the room he had called home for a long portion of time, but also all the memories he had filled in them. This was the only place he could truly let go and be himself while he was serving as leader of the Empire. Hours and hours of hard work, exhausting meetings and frustrating settlements would lead him back here where he could shed his professional state and be fully open./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He had been content here at one point. It was the first bed Jaina and himself had slept in together after years of separation. It was where he spoke to his family via com. It was where he ate and listened to music and read books he em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"wanted/em to read instead of what he em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"had/em to read. He had almost proposed to Jaina in this room, many times./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He hadn't in the end, but he nearly had./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The ring sat in his bed side locker for nearly 3 standard months before he removed it to bring it to Coruscant with him. He allowed himself a moment to remember all the memories he had in this room and how they were the shining moments in his reign, and how he would most likely never be in this room every again./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The bittersweet moment passed, and he forced himself out of the room with a click behind him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Moving swiftly through the corridors, Jag didn't let his mind wander to more nostalgic memories and headed straight towards the hanger where he knew his co-pilot would be eagerly waiting for him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sure enough, when he reached the hanger, he saw a small blonde woman at the foot of a ramp up to the basic, yet efficient ship. Tahiri stood wearing a jet-black jumpsuit which made her blonde hair stand out and her skin look a shade paler than it actually was. Neither the less, she wore the same determined face she usually allowed grace her face as she finished inspecting the ship just in time for Jag to reach her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Are you ready to set off, commander?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jag could see it took her a minute to fully push out the word "commander", just as it had taken him a minute to register that she was talking to him. It would take some time, but he would get used to it./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Everyone would./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Ready as I will ever be. Is the ship prepped for take-off?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"Just as Tahiri was about to open her mouth to respond, she was cut off by a short stocky man, who appeared on Jag's right./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;""It better be. We had the engineers prep it, but Jedi Veila insisted on making another inspection before you came down. I thought it was very empirical of her." Vitor Reige said, with an expression of seriousness but the light tone showed he held nothing but respect for the young woman who wore a smile on her face as she inclined her head slightly to the new Head of state and began to make her way up to the cockpit./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"Jag smiled as he watched her go, then turned back to shake Victor's hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;""Jagged, it has been an honour serving under you. I only hope I can continue what great work you have done."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;""I have no doubt you will, Head of State Reige. You know this sector and these people better than I ever could have. You will make an incredible mark on the galactic political system and I will help in any way I can."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"Vitor smiled as he let go of Jag's hand and let the younger man go up the ramp towards the well-equipped ship./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"Just as Jag reached the top of the ramp to the door leading into the innards of the ship, he heard Head of State Reige call from the bottom of the Hanger./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;""Commander make sure you let me know when your wedding finally comes together. I would hate to miss it."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"Jagged meant to smile down at the man, but something stopped him. A sudden sense of Déjà vu flooded him, and he knew something was off. He could suddenly see a memory in his brain as clear as if it was happening right in front of him at this present moment in time./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Lying on his bed, Jag had finally begun to unwind after nearly an hour of being back in his quarters. He often found it difficult to fully switch off from his responsibilities when he found free time and was usually forced into some sort of activity to physically take his mind off the stress of his job. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"This resulted in him simming for close to 40 minutes and/em em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"having a well-earned shower before he got into a comfortable pair of shorts and decided to try to conquer one of the books he had lying on his dresser. He had thought it looked interesting and although he found his mind wandering back to work at times, he found it reasonably intriguing. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"He was well into the second chapter before he heard the door chime with the sound of the acceptance of the access code and he looked up, expecting to see Jaina stroll through the door. However, he was only met with the handle being pushed and the door only opening a jar./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Jag?" he heard Jaina call from the other side of the door. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Are you ok?" he responded as he put the book down and made his way to the door, intent on opening it fully./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"However, before he could, Jaina called back, "Yes, I'm fine. I just need you to close your eyes for a minute."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Now even more confused, Jag crossed the final stepped to the door and began to pull it open./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Why?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"On the other side of the door, Jaina pulled at the door handle harder so that he couldn't nudge it open. He was convinced if she pulled it any closer it would have been shut./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Please, just sit on the bed and close your eyes ok?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Confused, but too intrigued to not comply, Jag let go of the door and let her take the full weight of it in her hand. He then made his way back to the bed and instead of lying back down on it he sat on the edge of it with his elbows on his knees. After a moment, he finally closed his eyes and let himself except whatever Jaina had in store for him. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Are they closed?" she called from the door, but this time he could tell that she was already in the room due to the lack of muffled speech. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Tight" he spoke with a click of his tongue. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"What followed was a large ruffling sound and he finally heard the door close behind her. He then heard her shoes make there was across the carpeted room as the ruffling continued to follow her where ever she went. To his left he heard another door open and he could only assume she was going to the side closet that was rarely, if ever used. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""What are you doing?" he asked again, rare impatience flooding through him as his confusion grew./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"With that he heard another door close and could feel Jaina walk over to him and stand in between his open legs. He reached up to grasp her back and she put her hands on his bare shoulders./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Ok, you can open your eyes now."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Jag didn't have to be told twice and suddenly light flooded him as he looked up to see Jaina standing over him. Her hair was pulled back into a high bun and she was wearing a standard brown jump suit with her lightsaber hanging from its belt. She wore a genuine smile and there was no denying the twinkle in her eye as she gazed down at him./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""What's in the closet?" /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""I got my wedding dress today." Jaina said proudly as he felt the surprise spread to his face. Of all things he had thought she was going to tell him, that was the furthest thing from his mind. He wasn't aware that she had been looking for one yet. In fact, he hadn't even been sure she would wear one at their wedding. He knew Jedi didn't typically wear traditional wedding clothes, since Jedi marriages were a fairly new occurrence./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"However, the admission did warm his heart and when he thought about Jaina in a dress walking down an aisle with her ready to marry him, he honestly thought it may have been the best image he could possibly muster up in his head. It was strange feeling knowing that they could finally plan their future knowing that it was going to be with each other./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Can I see it?" Jag said as he stepped around her and made a move towards the closet door./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"However, before he could reach it, Jaina grasped his arm and pulled him back. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""No, you aren't allowed. You can't go in there at all actually because I don't want to keep it in a bag unless I'm moving it, so it's just in the open in the closet."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""So, am I just not supposed to go in the closet until after the wedding?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Jaina shrugged. "It shouldn't really be a problem, you don't even use it."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Jag let out a sigh and took the few steps back towards her. He let his shoulders drop as if he was physically accepting the situation. "Ok, fine."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""You have to swear Jag, on your life." /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Jag could feel the look of disbelief sketch onto his face as he flicked his eyes up to hers and saw the sincerity she held in them. She was in no way joking. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Isn't that a bit unnecessary?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Not at all" she said with just a hint of offence in her voice, as if she was hurt he could even question the severity of this situation, which Jag knew was far from severe. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""I thought you didn't appreciate wedding traditions? You told me yourself you thought they were outdated." /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The moment the words exited his mouth, he instantly regretted it. Her eyes fell to the floor and the harsh look on her face was immediately replaced by one of sadness and obvious regret. The sudden want to bring the passion back in her eyes prompted Jag to put his hand flat on the small of her back and push her closer to him in an effort to get her to look up at him again./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""We both have lived abnormal lives. We haven't got to do one typical, normal, regular thing since we were teenagers. We have killed people and been nearly killed. We have lost family numerous times, watched people be driven insane and not be able to do anything about it. We were together and then apart and then together and then apart, all because our lives couldn't support us being happy together. Until we both finally made the decision to make this work no matter what, right?" she asked as she finally locked eyes with him again./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Without hesitation, Jag answered, "Of course."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Well can't we just have a wedding that has all the traditions? Don't we deserve to get to do this one normal thing? Just once?" As she spoke she slowly moved her hands up to rest on his chest and one thumb began rubbing circles into his skin as he slowly sighed at the warmth he was feeling spread through his body./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Your right."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Finally smiling and throwing him a wink, Jaina replied with, "I'm rarely not."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Jag scoffed as he sat back down on the bed and pulled Jaina into his lap. He clung to her waist as she reached down to unlace her shoes and as she kicked them off she continued with her probing. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""So, what are you not going to do?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Go into the closet."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""And what happens if someone comes into the room and points a good at your head, telling you to get in the closet?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Then I'd have to trust my combat skills to take care of it because I am not seeing that dress before you want me to."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Jaina smiled at his jest and closed her eyes, obviously leaning in for a kiss. However, before she reached him, Jag pulled back just an inch and watched her face scrunch in confusion./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""I have to say when you said to sit on the bed and close my eyes, I really thought you had something else in mind." /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"When she re-opened her eyes, Jag saw the mischief in her gaze and the way her smile turned into a smirk, he knew he was in trouble. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""I could always go into the fresher and do it all again in a different attire. Would that be acceptable for you, head of state?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""I suppose it will have to suffice" he mumbled before she kissed him with such vigour that he was pushed back onto the bed./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The memory came back to him in a flash and he was suddenly startled back into the present day. Looking down the ramp he could still see Vitor staring at him in confusion with his 12 row of guards standing around him, ready to spring into action if need be./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Just one moment, Head of State" he called down the ramp as he turned into the cockpit./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Tahiri was already sitting in her seat with her head set on. She was flicking away at the coordinates, getting ready for the hyperspace jumps they would have to take when he entered, and she didn't acknowledge him until she realised he wasn't making any move to take his seat in the pilot's chair./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Is everything ok?" she asked hesitantly, almost as if she was worried they would get one more bout of bad news before they could leave the system. It was understandable considering some of the bashings they had taken lately./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I need you to do me a favour."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She finally turned around to face him and Jag guessed to view his stance. She wore a look of seriousness and her steely eyes didn't avert his for even a second./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Of course, anything."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I need you to go get Jaina's wedding dress from my state room. It's in the closet beside the bed." As he spoke he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the key card he never thought he would have to use again and handed it to the blonde Jedi who wore an expression of relief that was almost immediately turned to one of confusion./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Sure, but could you not have taken it with you when you were leaving?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not aloud see it, and I don't think it's in its appropriate bag ether." Jag finally sat down beside Tahiri and went to reach for his own headset when he heard Tahiri scoff./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Of course, tradition and all that." She stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "All of the pre-checks are done, but you might want to give that left engine one more diagnostic test just to be sure."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Thank you, Tahiri" he said, and she knew he didn't mean for doing the pre-flight tests, but instead for being there. For being someone, he could trust when it came to handling something so personal to both himself and Jaina./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She allowed the smile to creep onto her face as she lightly nodded and went to retrieve the dress./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When she came back, he tried his hardest not to watch as she strolled up the ramp with the long white bag and press open their storage units to put the dress with the rest of their belongings./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She quickly clambered back into the cockpit and with one last thank you, a clearance code from control and a salute from Vitor and his guards, they were taking off and racing towards the vast void of space./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They didn't say anything for a while as they manoeuvred out of the atmosphere, but when they were finally flying at a casual pace, he heard Tahiri's voice in his headset, as well as right beside him./p  
p class="MsoNormal""It's really beautiful by the way. When Jaina wears it, I think you are going to be floored."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He noted that she said "when" and not "if" which he appreciated greatly. He let a full smile grace his face as he imagined, not for the first time, what it looked like./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I have a strong feeling you are right" he said quietly as they both simultaneously yet silently acknowledged that even in times of great stress, love was still at the forefront of their minds./p 


	4. Chapter 4

As per usual in grand trans-galactic functions, no expense had been spared for the occasion and the only way to describe the ball-room was awesome.

Golden chandeliers hung from the ceilings and every end of their strings held an array of diamonds that reflected off the bulbs that shone in them. This caused an illumination that spread to each corner of the massive hall and onto the wooden floor. The sleek panels of dark wood gave the whole room a modern feel that matched the floor to ceiling sized mirrors all around. The gaps in the mirrors held exotic paintings of mythical tails told around the galaxy and at the very back of the room, windows and doors to the outside balconies could be seen. The entrance to the hall had two gold plated doors that led you directly to the droids who were taking attendance and slowly crossing names off the list. Beside the entrance, the bar that was as long as whole right side of the room, was accessible. It had a wooden countertop and a glass underneath which not only matched the style of the décor, but also gave the impression that the bar was floating.

The event was an evening gathering as oppose to a diplomatic dinner, which had been swapped out for a diplomatic lunch. This event was designed to be more of a relaxed atmosphere and people with more of an outreach to the galactic government were invited as oppose to the hyper exclusive lunch they had enjoyed earlier on.

 _Or rather, not enjoyed,_ Jag thought to himself as he walked into the grand hall.

The day had been long and strenuous, but due to the fact he was the new Head of State of the Galactic Empire, he was entitled to attend the whole function. Even if all he really wanted to do was go to bed and get some shut eye before his meetings continued the next day, he was obligated to not only show up to the events, but also engage in strenuous conversation that would hopefully lead to the benefit of the galactic empire sometime in the future.

He hated the thought of it, but like nearly every aspect of his life, his duty ruled over wants.

Dotted around the room were table stands that held an array of finger food and tall glasses of champagne that Jag immediately went to and took a swig from. Ideally, he would want something stronger, preferably some sort of straight whiskey or rum, but he thought he better stay some what presentable while he was representing a whole galactic system.

As he put the empty glass back down on the grey cloth covered table, he saw the undershirt of his dress suit was sticking slightly agar from his cuff. He reached down to fix it and then stood back up while strengthening his jacket out. Although he had been told he would have to get used to the grey suits that came along with imperial rule, he had been surprised to learn that most of his new closet consisted of black as a way to highlight the head of state in a sea of bland grey. The unique nature of his background also had an influence over the suit, he remembered as he reached up to fix his insignia, which was made up of not only his new emblem of the Empire, but also his previous medallions he had earned in his time with the Chiss and probably most remarkably, the honours he had earned with the New republic during the Vong war. Jag would have never guessed that the Imperial designers would have been so accommodating to his requests to show unity between the states that the galaxy now desperately needed, but he was in fact their leader and what he said goes.

He was relishing in a moments peace when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he was met with an older bothan who Jag was not familiar with, but he had a feeling he would learn about in detail at any moment.

"Head of State Fel, I am Senator Fladur of the 18th district" as he spoke he through his furry paw out for Jag to shake. "I was hoping to talk to you quickly about my proposition for an exclusive trade plan we were hoping would get some sort of galactic backing and assurance." 

Jag reached out and shook the bothan's paw and tried desperately not to show the distaste he was feeling on his face. He succeeded but he knew he could not stop the obvious tension that had appeared in his shoulders and neck. His only hope was that this wouldn't last too long, and he could get back to enjoying another glass of champagne before another being would come along, demanding his attention.

Midway into the senator's speech, Jagged felt a sudden urge to throw his gaze to the entrance of the grand hall, however he tried to resist in the interest of the bothan who was obviously pouring his heart into the conversation that Jag was barely paying attention to. Yet, the voice in his head to look over at the door was too hard to ignore and pretty soon it was all his mind was thinking about. He couldn't figure out what the feeling was, but he knew that if he didn't look that way he was going to explode and not until he finally glanced quickly at the door did he understand.

Standing at the entrance were a group of four people almost huddled together, who had obviously arrived as a single unit, talking to the droids who were obviously trying to locate their names on the list.

Like always when these particular people entered a room, an aura took over that no one needed the force to feel and Jag could see other people turn around and cast a gaze their way too. However, unlike before when people would look in admiration and awe, there was obvious sense of sadness that flooded the looks and maybe even a hint of nervousness. Things had changed, Jag knew, but he had never thought it would affect the fame and reputation of the family the way it clearly was.

The person on the left side of the group was a short but utterly elegant woman. She was the first one to gather herself from the onlookers and she forced her chin up and straightened her posture as if nothing had happened and she was right back to her days as chief of state. She wore a long off-white dress that reached the floor and had an array of elegant jewels running down the front. Her hair was in a braid down her back and her eyes held a sense of wisdom that was so rare, you barely saw it now a days. Leia Organa Solo had always been an icon and a token of hope, resilience and the promise of a better time ahead, all of which they desperately needed right now. So, it was no wonder she was invited to the event and the sense of peace she brought with her, put everyone at ease.

The man beside her, her life long companion and loving husband, Han Solo stood well over six foot and the contrast between them was stark. Where Leia was elegant, Han was uncomfortable. Where she was peaceful, he was obviously on edge and when she smiled at the onlookers, he snarled. Jagged couldn't help but smile at the sight of the former smuggler, obviously not wanting to be around all of these politicians, but never not fully supporting his wife. In the time he had known the former general, he could count on two hands the amount of times he had seen him without his wife close by. He was wearing formal suit trousers and a neatly pressed tunic with a blazer thrown over it and although it was formal straight fitting clothes, Han Solo still somehow made them look a little scruffy. Jag couldn't really think of it being any other way.

However, it wasn't the famous couple who had taken on the empire all those years ago or their Noghri bodyguard that walked a few feet behind them, that his eyes were drawn to, but the brunette on the right side of her father.

That right there, was the one thing that had continuously questioned his duty constantly for nearly 20 years.

She had her hair down, but two pieces at the side were pinned up in braids, which moved it out of her face. She had some sort of flower in the braids that entangled with her brown locks to make an almost angelic like sight that he was floored by. She wore a short navy dress that only reached her mid-thigh which showed off her muscular legs and the fact that it was also low-cut at the front meant that her creamy almost porcelain skin was on show. The dress was fitted and moulded against her curves, showing everyone what was rarely not hidden behind Jedi robes or a flight suit. Jag thought it ought to have been illegal in the star system because he felt that he couldn't physically tear his eyes away from the angel that had obviously strolled into the wrong party and taken everyone's breath away. Looking down at her mid-section, he was surprised to see that she wasn't carrying her lightsaber, but he wouldn't be surprised if she had it concealed somewhere in the dress.

Jaina Solo always had something up her sleeve, or in this case, in her dress.

Her hand flew up to her hair to readjust one of the floral pins and their eyes locked for a moment. His breath hitched in his throat and he saw her smile lightly which only forced his heart to beat harder. However, before he could make any response she looked down and turned away towards her father who was now talking to her. She was wearing high shoes which meant the difference height between father and daughter was marginally smaller than it would have been on a normal day. He took the opportunity to look at her arms, all the way down to her hands which was holding a silver clutch in them and was littered with silver and gold jewellery that he guessed was her mothers.

He realised in that moment that her skin was free of scars and bruises, meaning that the surgeries and the hours in the bacta treatment had worked and she was truly fully healed. However, he was sure that she was not healed in her soul and although she did look perfect on the outside, she was emotionally broken on the inside.

In that moment he realised he had been turned away from the senator for probably longer than was considered not rude and he reluctantly tore his eyes away from Jaina, much to his bodies utter dismay. Looking back at the bothan, it didn't appear that he had noticed the slip of his attention and he was still in deep concentration about his plan. However, Jag didn't hear one more thing he had said after he desperately tried to reinstate his attention to the conversation and rid his mind of the woman who haunted him constantly.

"That is all very interesting senator" Jag said when the bothan finally ended his speech. "Obviously I cannot make any decisions right now, but I will defiantly have my office take time to organise something for us to sit down more concretely."

The Bothan seemed happy enough to leave it there and when they were interrupted by another group, he stepped back and let the group expand to more than a private conversation. Jag felt himself tense even more in anticipation for more mind-numbing conversations, but he was pleasantly surprised to see Leia and Han solo moving their way over to him.

"Head of state" Leia said as she nodded to him while letting a genuine smile grace her face. "It's good to see you again."

"Looks like you are fitting right in to the role, kid" Han Solo quipped beside her and although he was saying it light-heartedly, Jag could hear the slight tone of distaste.

"I wouldn't quite go that far" Jag replied as he reached behind him to get two glassed of champagne for the couple. "But I defiantly have you two to thank for all your help the past few weeks. The transition wouldn't have been half as smooth if not for your intervention."

"It's the least we could do, considering how much you have helped us over the years. Especially the most recent few." Leia replied as she took the glass and began to sip on the bubbles that rose to the top.

"She's right, this is a bad enough gig without you having to get through stupid things like control visas." Han put one hand on his shoulder and Jag was surprised to see the man even smiled in his direction.

Jagged repaid the sentiment as best he could yet couldn't help but let his eyes stray from their faces and try to look behind the couple, trying to find the person that he hadn't expected to see today, yet wanted more than anyone in the galaxy.

Leia saw his traveling eyes and couldn't help but smile at him. When she realised, he wasn't going to throw his gaze in her direction again as he was searching for her daughter and now, he was unable to hide his obvious need to be in Jaina's vicinity as soon as possible, she coughed lightly to gain his attention again.

When his eyes flew back to her in an instant, almost as if he had been caught doing something in class he should have been, and he couldn't stop the light blush that graced his face as it was painfully obvious what was running through his mind, and you didn't need the force to know that.

Leia cocked her head to the side and through it in the direction of the door, while Han raised one finger and pointed at the bar. When Jag turned around, he saw his target sitting on one of the brown stools beside the bar, sipping something dark while picking at the beads on her sequenced bag.

"Excuse me." Jag said as he nodded at the couple and backed away as politely as he could.

When it was clear they were not offended by his eagerness to leave, he turned his back and he set a straight line to Jaina, making sure no one would interrupt him on his way by walking briskly.

"You know, I don't remember seeing your name on the list" he started. As he spoke, he put his hand on the back of her chair and leaned his arm on the counter of the bar. She was caught off guard by him, but when she looked up, she wore a sly smile that showed more in her eyes than on her lips. "And I am pretty sure I would have recognised your one."

"I'm a plus one, but I'm flattered to have your attention like that" she replied teasingly.

"Well you would have been hard to miss" he said while his eyes couldn't help but scan her body as he gave her a head to toe look. It was easy to see the red twinge in Jaina's cheeks as she looked back down at her drink, trying to cover her embarrassment. He silently congratulated himself on the fact that even after all these years he could still get that kind of reaction from her. However, he didn't want to embarrass her or make her feel in anyway insecure, so he then added, "About your name on the list I mean."

"Sure, Jagged Fel" she scoffed. "Or should I say Head of Sate Fel."

The words made him visibly grimace at the term which made him lean down and put his elbows on the counter. He still wasn't used to being called that by anyone and to have Jaina, the person he was Jag to, not Jagged and defiantly not 'Head of state Fel'. It was depressing to hear, and he took the opportunity to look at her drink.

"What are you drinking?"

"Brandy."

"By the force that sounds good" he replied as he signalled to the bar man and asked for one too. She laughed as he took a sip of the spirt and closed his eyes in satisfaction.

"Wow that is good."

"The silver lining about these functions."

He smiled at her and took the opportunity to put his hand back where it was on her chair, except this time, she turned into him and

"So, whose plus one were you? Your mothers?" Jag asked.

"No, she actually had to take the Noghri as a plus one, so my dad stepped in and offered to take me" she said while he nodded. "I didn't really want to come, but mom said it would be good to get out, even if it is to a stuffy function."

"Well I am personally very glad you came."

"Oh really? Do you think I'm going to spice this event up?" she asked smirking.

"I think you already have" Jag whispered to her as he leaned in.

This time Jaina's smirk was fully illuminated on her face and Jag was now so close to her that he could see her eyelashes sweep along her check and the yellow flickers in her brown eyes were shining against the glow of the chandeliers. He had never seen anything so beautiful before and he knew that if he was to lean forward even a tiny bit, he would be kissing her.

"Head of state Fel?" Jag heard from behind him and he closed his eyes in annoyance.

As he looked over his shoulder, he saw a group of senators waiting with Ashik who was summoning him with his eyes. He knew deep down before he had come over to Jaina that there was no way this evening would have been that good to him, but he had allowed himself to momentarily forget his obligations and it felt almost too good to be true.

He turned back around to Jaina and gave her a look of sympathy mixed with annoyance yet also a look of longing, as if he was telling her that he didn't want their playful nature to leave as soon as he did.

However, all she did was nod and reply, "Go. It's ok, I'm not going anywhere."

He paused before he left and handed her his drink.

"Will you mind this for me?"

"I can't make any promises" She replied as she threw back her own drink and gave him a smirk.

He laughed lightly, gave her a wink and turned around with a bit more optimism to face the oncoming senators with.

The rooms atmosphere had noticeably changed by the time Jagged had finished with the mass group of senators and diplomats. They no longer felt the need to harass people for purposed plans and trade deals, but instead chat and relax into the night of food and maybe a bit too much alcoholic beverages. However, Jag was more than happy to slip out and excuse himself from the large group who were now laughing and telling stories as opposed to talking professionally. It was so relaxed that even when Ashik saw him slip away and loosen his collar, he merely looked him up and down and nodded in recognition of his commander in chief.

Grateful for the escape, Jag made quick work scanning the room for his target.

However, she was no longer at the bar when he walked over, she wasn't on the dancefloor and when he looked over in the direction of the Solo's he could see them sitting together with a few people he didn't recognise, but Jaina was noticeably absent.

Suddenly Jag's heart was hit with a pain at the thought that she might have gotten tired of waiting for him to finish and had left. The thought nearly made his knees buckle in disappointment and he thought while planning his next move, he would slip out to the balcony for air.

However, when he clicked open the glass door and slipped out into the crisp air of the night, he was welcomed by the sight of Jaina standing with her back to him, looking up at the stars. She had taken one of her clips down and her hair was visibly more dishevelled, most likely from her shaking it out in annoyance, like she often did at the end of the day.

When she heard him close the door, she turned to face him, and he was surprised to see she was holding both of their drinks in her hands. She smiled up at him and reached out to hand him back the drink that she was supposedly taking care of, but that he hadn't actually expected her to. At that moment he didn't think he could want anything more than that drink right here with Jaina under the stars.

He greedily grabbed the drink and felt himself step right into her personal space and he could almost feel her calmness radiating off her.

"Didn't really expect this to be still here, I have to admit."

"I can control myself when I really want to."

His eyes flicked up to look directly into hers and he could see the mischievous look on her face that made his stomach drop.

"And do you want to control yourself tonight?"

"That remains to be seen." Now it was Jaina's turn to give him a head to toe look that twisted something in the pit of his stomach that he hadn't felt in a long time. Her tongue darted out and wet her lips and he knew he had to do something to stop himself from grabbing her and pushing her against the wall, so he took a moment to take a drink. He felt the alcohol run down his throat and thing sting was mirroring the desire in his heart and he knew he could feel his cheeks going red from both.

He was both at ease and put off by her playful mood. On one hand it was amazing to see her smiling again, especially when it was with him. He would have to be a fool to complain when he was seeing her more open than he had in years and while his body was screaming at him to not mess this up, he found it hard to let the other side of his brain get a look in at all.

However, always the pragmatic person in the room, Jag couldn't help but worry that this was just a mask. An attempt to push down her real feelings of most likely inner-turmoil and despair. This was the first time he had seen her out of the med-bay and they hadn't exactly had time to talk about everything that happened. In that moment a flash of her lying in against him, too exhausted to move, with blood covering her face and her dead brother's head in her lap rushed back to him. He had never felt so helpless in all his years and could only use words to reassure her that everything would be ok, when in reality, he wasn't so sure.

Jaina must have felt his sadness in the force because when he looked back at her after putting his drink down, she took a visible step back and turned to lean against the railing of the balcony. Her face still held a smile, but he could see it didn't reach her eyes and unlike the one she had flashed his way moments ago, this one was forced.

"Thank you for helping my parents with everything when I was in the bacta-tank. They wouldn't even have had quarters to go to if it wasn't for you."

"Of course. They needed to have easy access to you while you were healing. It was the least I could do." As Jag spoke, he also turned around and leaned on the railing beside her.

Jaina was quiet again for a moment as she looked back up to the stars. On times like this he wished he could investigate her brain and see what she was thinking, but before he could second guess it, he spoke again.

"How are they doing? Really?"

Jaina didn't move her gaze from the stars but he could see her breath in heavier, almost as if the pain in her heart was physically straining her.

"They are dealing" she replied, not curtly but in a straightforward manner.

"And, how are you? Are you ok?"

This time when he asked, she did look down at him. He knew she was hesitant to answer and although no tears were falling, her eyes were viably watering up and she was on the verge of heartbreak.

"No" she answered honestly. "But I will be."

She moved her hand to rest over his and he turned it over, so he could take her small hand in his. He could feel the rough surface, filled with lines from years of struggle but right now it felt so delicate, as if it was the personification of all that Jaina was. A rough exterior but something that needed protecting.

They sat like that for what could have been hours, Jag wasn't sure, but the calmness that flooded him was intoxicating and he hoped that she was feeling it too.

"They are adopting a war orphan." Jaina suddenly said out of the blue.

Jag felt himself be dragged out of the tranquil peace and instead pushed into a confused daze. "Who are adopting a war orphan?"

"My parents. I think it will help them deal with everything. You know them, they can never sit still for more than two minutes, even if they say all they want it a boring life."

As she spoke, he wasn't sure if it was him or herself, she was convincing and although he couldn't pinpoint it, something was off about this whole situation, not to mention completely out-of-the-blue. He had thought the last thing the Solo's would want to do was deal with the responsibility of another child, especially so soon after they not only lost their second son but also very nearly their only daughter too. However, the Solo family was nothing if not spontaneous and full of surprises.

Jag closed his mouth, which had been open in shock and saw the slight amusement of Jaina's face.

"When did all of this happen?"

"Not long ago, it was a shock to me too, all of us really."

Jag didn't really understand what she meant, but he didn't want to push her on it too much. After all this was probably as much of a dealing process for Jaina as it was for him. He hoped this wasn't another barrier that Jaina had to get over with her family, especially now when she needed them most and he knew she was at risk of pushing them away like she did when Anakin died. However, he knew like back then, he would be there for her to fall back on, even if she didn't want the help.

"Her name is Allana."

"Another Solo woman? Let the force help us." Jag mocked almost by instinct as opposed to over-thinking it.

He was then rewarded with a laugh, a real laugh, that he thought was probably the most amazing things his ears had ever had the pleasure of hearing. When he looked at her, she had her eyes closed and her smile was splashed across her whole face, so wide that he could see her bottom and top set of teeth.

It was in that moment that he realised he didn't care if she was using this night to get away from her problems or masking the reality of what was happening in her life. If he could make her smile and laugh like that for as long as he could then he would do just that and when she was ready to divulge what was happening deep inside, he would be waiting for her here too.

Jag felt himself stand up and he pulled her up with him so that they were standing right back in each other's personal space again.

"Laugh it up, finally you might see the effect Solo women have on people with your own eyes now."

"Oh yeah? What effect is that?" She asked while still laughing lightly.

"Drive people insane, usually."

She grabbed his other hand with hers and continued to laugh, which only spurred him on further to continue.

"Whiplash too."

At this point her smile was so wide, he was sure that her checks were hurting.

"Oh and of course you have to deal with the fact that they turn heads in every room they walk into."

"Hey!" Jaina called in mock offence. "That's not true, but if it was, that's a bad thing?"

"It is when you are in love with one and you want them all to yourself."

In that moment, Jag realised he might of spoke out of bounds and when Jaina suddenly stopped laughing, he could feel the atmosphere change to one more serious. He honestly hadn't meant to ruin the moment and he was worried that Jaina was about to pull away and close off from him again.

However, he felt her move closer to him and although she did pull her hands out from his grasp, it was only to reach up and put them both around him. The second that he felt her hands on his shoulders and as they moved up to his neck, the tension that had built up collectively not only from tonight, but from the past few weeks, fell away into nothing and came out in the form of a content sigh.

"Well, right now, you have me all to yourself" she replied, putting the ball right back in his court and forcing him to play the next move. He had thought about this moment so many times over the years, foolishly imagining that one day they could reunite again and out of all the times he thought about it, none of them included both of them outside a stuffy political event where anyone could walk out and ruin the moment at any time.

However, he wasn't one to take for granted the position he had found himself in and right now his heart was ruling over his head, which he enthusiastically allowed without any fight.

He couldn't exactly remember who had initiated it first, but suddenly he was kissing her, and everything was good again in the galaxy. Explosions were going off in his brain and the adrenaline that was coursing through his body was making his heart pound so hard, he was afraid she would feel it through his jacket.

He could feel the sequence on her dress as his hands made their way to her back and pulled her closer into the embrace. He felt her fully give in to him and when he opened his mouth, he felt her tongue slip in and run along his teeth, which resulted in his legs threatening to buckle.

Jagged could feel love, frustration, longing, sadness and desire all rolled into one as they poured everything both had into the kiss. It was if no time had passed and they were teenagers again cramped in a meeting room, escaping their responsibilities for a few moments to indulge in each other.

Finally, Jaina did pull back, but it was only far enough that he could still feel her breath, which was as ragged as his was, mix with his. Her hands were now entangled in his hair and his hands were lying dangerously low on her back as they stared at each other in a silent exchange. When she smiled up at him, he felt his stomach drop another inch, if that was even possible, and just as he leaned in to kiss her again, he heard her whisper to him the eight words he wanted to hear most in the entire galaxy.

"Do you want to get out of here?"


	5. Chapter 5

p class="MsoNormal"2:45./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Her green tinted clock that sat on her bedside locker stared back at her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She was annoyed that she wasn't asleep yet, but she was also annoyed that the time was not passing faster. If she wasn't going to fall asleep, it might as well be the morning so that she can get on with what this day was going to be. Yet, her she was, lying awake with time seemingly going slower than a Lime snail in the sand dunes of Kwarti./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She took time to look around her room. The light was off, but the street lights shone through the blinds and dimly light the carpeted room. She lay in a bed that was big enough for two people, but the way Jaina slept, it would be hard to fit another human in without them lying on top of her. Or, as Jaina thought, her lying on them more likely. That was what usually happened./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When her parents had bought the apartment shortly after they had taken up residence on Coruscant after the second civil war, they had declared the bedroom in the back of the complex, her room. She hadn't specifically asked them to keep her a room, but when Alanna had taken the box room, she had slowly started to move a few of her stuff in. The stuff that wasn't in the temple and in Jag's stateroom anyway./p  
p class="MsoNormal"However, all of her possessions were now packed in cardboard brown boxes and everything she needed for tomorrow was in the bunk room of the falcon. They would be moving all of their possessions from the apartment early tomorrow morning and get ready to permanently move from Coruscant to Ossus, where the new Jedi Temple would be./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina was admittedly slightly upset at having to move away from her home, but when she really thought about it, this planet was nothing more than a stepping stone, just like it had been all her life. Her home was where her family was, where the Jedi were and most importantly where Jagged Fel was./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She had been trying to keep her mind off him all night./p  
p class="MsoNormal"If she thought about him, she would have to think about the other very important thing that was happening tomorrow, which she was also trying to avoid. She was trying to sleep, after all. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, her train of thought would inevitable revert back to Jag, wedding dresses, flowers and all the things that would cause her stomach to flip./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She wondered about what he was doing right now, and she found herself reaching out to feel him in the force. She was met with the usual steely resolve and a sense of calm that flooded her with warmth. She tried to send him the same warmth, knowing he would understand it was her, but she then realised that he, unlike her, was sound asleep./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina was suddenly filled with envy. How could he sleep so soundly?/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jag often found it difficult to sleep after long days as the Head of State of the empire. His brain always found it hard to fully switch off and even going back to their time in the military, Jag had always taken a while to fall asleep. So, of all nights, he was sleeping soundly with nothing playing on his mind./p  
p class="MsoNormal"2:48/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Huffing, she decided this was useless and pulled herself out of the warmth of her bed. She reached over to the clothes that were lying on a chair beside her desk and then crouched down to pull on her lose slip on shoes. When she was dressed, she slowly opened her door and crept out into the hall. She was met with a chill breeze and when she got to the open plan living area, she grabbed her dad's jacket that had been thrown on the sofa and slipped into it. He wouldn't be needing it till tomorrow anyway, she thought to herself as she opened the front door as quietly as she could. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"It felt strange to her walking out the door like this. It had been many years since she had left her parents' house in the middle of the night, but it usually was Jacen, Anakin and herself leaving the house via a window to meet their friends in what normally consisted of griff's pub and a lot of alcohol. She smiled at the memory as she realised now, a fully-grown adult, she could walk out the door and not have to tell anyone where she was going./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The city was alive, as it always was, while she walked the short distance between the apartment and the hanger bay, which was located right under the living quarters. This was no surprise to Jaina as Han Solo could not be far away from his precious ship for any considerable period of time. She silently thanked his stubborn nature as she reached her x-wing and climbed in, knowing if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be able to get where she needed to be./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When she really thought about it, that was probably the truth for most of the things in her life./p  
p class="MsoNormal"With that thought, she settled into her seat and got ready to take off./p  
p class="MsoNormal"-/p  
p class="MsoNormal"It had taken her exactly 7 minutes to fly from the hanger beside her parent's apartment, to the docking bay outside of Jag's. The sheer modern apartment was on the other side of the planet, but due to the fact that traffic in and out of the sector was quiet, she got clearance in record time and the path was clear for her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She waited until she heard the click of her safety break and opened her viewing port, so she could get out. She jumped down without a ladder and called on the force to ease the blow on her legs when she hit the pavement below her. The landing bay was on cement and was completely open, except for an invisible security panel that one could not see, but also could not step through without a full security scan. As Jaina stood in front of the scanner which identified her and let her through Jag's security systems, she wondered had the noise from the twin engines woken him from his obvious relaxed slumber. She had been hoping to sneak up on him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She slowly opened the front door and with the same slow pace she had used in her parent's house, she walked into the kitchen area. She could see everything was in similar condition to her parent's belongings and everything Jag was taking with him was in brown boxes which were neatly piled on top of one another beside the counter. She wondered what possessions he actually had to put In the boxes considering most of his belongings were still packed in the bags he had taken from Bastion./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina opened one of the boxes to peak in at the contents, only to be met with books, a kettle, one cooking pot and a folder she presumed was filled with files that he kept 'just in case'. So, nothing of importance, she thought to herself. Shrugging off her jacket, she allowed herself a moment to breath in the scent of the apartment. It smelled like a mix of cleaning product, washing detergent and Mos meat that she guessed he had cooked for himself earlier this evening. She put her jacket, or should she say, her father's jacket, on the countertop and kicked off her shoes, knowing she wouldn't need them for a while./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Finally, she walked down the narrow hall that was now stripped of any pictures or evidence that this house had been one that was lived in and reached Jag's bedroom door which was open a jar. She opened the door to peak in and was met with the sight she had been expecting since she reached out to him in her own bed./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jagged was lying on his back with one arm above his head and the other resting on his bare torso. His face was relaxed, and his hair was tousled from sleeping. The room was slightly colder than the rest of the house, due to the fact that Jag had a weird habit of preferring to sleep in below average temperature that he had grow up in and never fully grown out of. He had gotten used to sleeping in room temperature in all the years he had been with Jaina though and he had obviously taken the opportunity when she wasn't in his bed to put it back to near freezing./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Tough luck buddy/em, Jaina thought as she crossed the room and promptly put the temperature back to a liveable temperature and went about taking her clothes off and putting them on the dresser for the morning. She grabbed a long sleeve top from her closet and while she would usually grab sleep shorts too, she knew most of her clothes were packed and she didn't exactly feel like rummaging through them for the sake of one item./p  
p class="MsoNormal"After closing the door and putting her lightsaber on the night stand, Jaina finally lifted the covers and crawled in to her side of the bed that, despite the fact she wasn't there, was still empty. The thought that Jag had become so used to her being beside him that he slept on one side of an empty bed warmed her heart, but not enough to let him sleep on./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When she finally settled in bed, Jag was still sound asleep, so she reached over and tucked herself under his arm which had settled above his head in sleep. She then threw her arm around his torso which in turn made his head reflectively move out of the way, like he had done many times before. However, the movement caused Jag to stiff in his sleep and Jag felt his arm move down from the pillow above them and land around her, pulling her closer into him. His head, which had been facing away from her, also swung down to her direction and although his eyes were still closed, Jaina knew he was awake./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I thought this was against the rules?" Jag asked with his voice laced in sleep./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina had told Jagged that she wanted to do all of the wedding traditions that normal couples often participated in. Both of their lives had been anything but normal, so Jaina thought it was only fair that they got to live like a normal couple for once in their lives. That however, had included not sleeping together the night before the wedding, which Jag had not exactly been ecstatic about but had gone along with it for the sake of his future wife. So, when it turned out that Jaina was the one to crack, it surprised him to say the least./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I know, but I changed my mind."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina could feel Jag laughing lightly and he kissed the top of her head as he responded. "Whiplash as always."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina could feel the peace of the room deep in her bones as she felt the rise and fall of Jag's breathing under her. The tranquillity of the whole situation was almost enough to lull Jaina to sleep herself, but then she remembered she was supposed to be in a huff with him./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I can't believe you were sleeping."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""You can't believe I was sleeping at three in the morning?" Jag asked with humour in his tone./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Yes! I couldn't get asleep at all" she said as leaned up on her elbow. "Are you not nervous?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Not at all" Jag replied as he finally opened his eyes and looked up at her. Nothings going to go wrong, I'll make sure it doesn't."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina had never really been one to let things go. Usually she would press him, knowing he could not possibly know that for a fact and asking him what he was going to do about it. She had always felt the need to know that everything was going to be safe and to make sure that she was prepared to jump into action when ever she was needed. Yet, since her encounter with Abeloth when she was closer to death that she liked to admit to anyone, she had found herself accepting his offers to look after her. She had realised that life was too short to worry about everything and she was tired of fighting, especially against her own interest./p  
p class="MsoNormal"That's why she found herself releasing a breath and replying "okay", as she lay back down on his chest, instead of pressing him on it any further. She could feel in the force that he was a bit surprised that she wasn't calling him out on it, but he wasn't about to complain at the fact she was beginning to let things go./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I thought this was bad luck though?" he asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I think we've had all the bad luck we are going to have, don't you? I'm pretty sure this is going to be fine."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I think you might be right" he said as he used his other hand to reach across the dresser and pick up the alarm clock that was sitting on it, staring at him like Jaina's had been in her parent's apartment. "What time should I set It for?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""hmmm" Jaina replied as she thought about it. She would have to get up early as to get back before anything started and she knew her parents wouldn't be ecstatic that she had left, so no matter how much she wanted to get a good sleep before the biggest day of her life, she knew she would have to leave in a few hours. "Set it for six."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Ok. Three lovely hours of sleep awaits."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She felt herself laugh and when he finished putting down the clock, he linked their hands together on his torso. Within moments she felt his breathing change and she knew he was on the verge of falling asleep again./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Before she closed her eyes, she reached up to kiss his cheek and whispered, "I love you", before finally lying back down and letting sleep take her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The shrill noise of the alarm clock rang through Jaina and Jag's room at six o'clock sharp./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They had both moved in their sleep so that now they were both on their side, facing towards the door, with Jaina's back pressed against Jagged's front with his arm snug around her pulling them together. His leg was also threated between hers and their arms were tangled together./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They both woke up with a start from the noise and Jaina felt Jag's body shift and reach across to turn off the alarm. She felt her whole body try and pull her back to the abyss of sleep, but her brain screamed at her to wake up. When she opened her eyes, she felt them sting and they began to water when she groaned and turned into Jag's open arms beside her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Good morning" she heard him say in a throaty voice before he rubbed her back./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Good morning" she muffled into his chest as she stretched her arms out behind him./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Are you ready to become a wife later today?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She smiled at the sound of the word 'wife' roll off his tongue so fluidly but couldn't help but her stomach drop at the thought of the actual wedding./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Can we not just run away and elope?" She asked as she finally lifted her head from his chest to look up at him./p  
p class="MsoNormal""No way Solo, you're not getting off that easy."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Why?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Is it so bad of me that I want to show off my beautiful wife to everyone?" he asked accusingly as he gazed down at her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"As always, his words somehow managed to make everything ok and the problems in her life somehow vanished into thin air as she felt him run his finger tips up and down her back. No one had ever had the effect on her like he did and every fear she had about today she realised was irrational and meaningless considering this was what she had wanted for such a long time. When she stripped back all of the nonsense, this was all that really mattered and the fact that she would get to wake up like this every day for the rest of her life, was a dream./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She leaned forward and kissed him to try and convey all of that through the kiss./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When he moved his hand into her hair and pulled her closer, Jaina felt like he got the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe rolled so that he was on top of her and she hooked her legs around his mid-rift so that the balls of her feet were digging into his back, pulling him as close to her as she could. He moved his hands from her hair and leaned on one elbow, while using the other hand to run down her side which caused the hairs on her skin to stand up in anticipation. She felt him shift forward and rub against her which made her moan into his mouth which only spired him on more and caused him to slip his tongue into her mouth. She felt her own hands, which were on his back, slip around to his chest and just as she was about to drop them lower, there was another sharp noise from the alarm./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The alarm clock vibrated against the wooden side locker and Jaina felt Jag physically sag in frustration and remove himself from her entanglement to reach over and officially turn off the alarm. While he was occupied, Jaina sat up in the bed and stretched her arms over her head./p  
p class="MsoNormal""It's probably for the best anyway, I have to get going soon" she said looking back at him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He reluctantly nodded and let out a sigh./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I suppose your probably right, we do have a lot to do today."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She nodded, smiling at his frustration and turned to kick her legs out of the bed so that she could stand up and get ready to go. She made quick work of putting her trousers on and getting a new pair of socks out from an open bag Jag had kept out of the boxes so that he would have some things to use without rummaging through all of the packed items./p  
p class="MsoNormal"As she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, she saw him get out of the bed too and by the time she had come back into the room, he was fully dressed too and sitting on the bed zipping his boots up. When he saw her come back into the room he stood up and faced her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I want to show you something."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Oh?" Jaina replied, looking at him questionably./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I was going to show you after the wedding, but I don't think I can wait."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""You? Impatient? That's a first" She replied while she took his hand which was open for her to take and beckoning her forward./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He laughed lightly at her and took her out to the hall and into the kitchen, where she grabbed her shoes, which she slipped on and her father's jacket which was still in the same place she had left it last night./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They both left the house through the front door and Jag took her down the steps into the docking bay that was right beside the apartment. They passed her x-wing which was sitting to her left and passed a couple of speeders that were obviously in the mist of being repaired. Finally, he stopped them in front of a YT00-47 cruiser, probably the size of all of their apartment. It was obviously not new, but she wouldn't guess any older than the beginning of the recent war, and she could see it had a vox twin engine, which meant it could take some serious power. Automatically she presumed it was one of the senator's who lived in this area, many of whom left their ships here due to the fact it was the only docking back big enough to hold these type of ships./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When Jag stopped in front of it Jaina looked from him to the ship and back again./p  
p class="MsoNormal""What's this?" She asked him, looking perplexed./p  
p class="MsoNormal""It's yours" he replied almost in a nonchalant tone./p  
p class="MsoNormal""What?" Jaina asked. Her head up to stare at him in the face, not really comprehending what he was saying./p  
p class="MsoNormal""This ship, is yours."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jaina felt her mouth drop open in shock and she saw the grin spread on her fiancée's face./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Are you serious? When? How?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He laughed lightly and turned to face her, taking her other hand in his./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I've been planning it for a while, but it arrived last week. I had it moved here yesterday because I didn't think you would be around but alas you just had to come back."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She found herself lost for words and couldn't really comprehend what was going on. She had wanted her own ship since she was six years old when her father first started teaching her how to operate a ship, but in between going to the military and joining the order officially, she had never gotten around to getting her dream. She operated so freely in and out of an x-wing that the thought of operating her own ship had drifted further and further away from her mindset. Yet, right now as she stared up at this great piece of machinery, she felt her six-year-old self squeal as loud as her thirty-six-year-old self./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Why?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He looked at her as If the answer to her question was obvious./p  
p class="MsoNormal""It's a wedding present."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Finally, Jaina closed her mouth, beaming up at him. Unable to contain herself anymore, she felt herself jump into his arms in excitement and squeal out-loud as she had been inside. He clung to her as she hugged herself to him and wrapped her legs around him. When she pulled back, it was only so far that she could look into his eyes which were shining an emerald green as they bore into hers./p  
p class="MsoNormal""So, you like it?" he asked, before he was answered by her lips on his./p 


	6. Chapter 6

As Jag walked down the stone cobbled path carrying not only a bag, a jacket, an umbrella and his son, he was beginning to think he may have made a mistake not taking the stroller.

Now that he was facing the consequences of his actions, he could silently admit to himself that he may have expected too much of his young son. After all, Davin was only 15 months, two weeks and four days old, (not that himself and Jaina were counting or anything) and had only taken his first steps two standards months before.

The infant had been crawling for a while and was pulling himself up to a standing position for nearly three weeks when the family were all gathered in the living area of the ship they called their home one evening. Jagged was standing at the stove, making dinner and Jaina was on the floor, obviously much more invested in the toy blocks than Davin was, when suddenly the baby pulled himself up off the floor using the coffee table and took his first three steps towards his father.

The excitement of the event had obviously gone to the first-time parents' heads, as by the next day, the boy had close to ten new fitted pairs of shoes and had been through hours of the "walk to me" game that involved Jaina and Jag sitting about a meter away from other and taking turns calling Davin to them.

By 15 months he was walking confidently unassisted but had yet to venture out of the house without his stroller thus far. Despite the fact that he complained constantly while he was in the stroller and tried to pry his way out of it for nearly the entire time he was in it, Jaina still insisted they bring it everywhere with them in case he miraculously felt tired and slept for any of the journey.

However, on this particular day, it was just the boys at home with Jaina leaving early to go to the temple for an important training session and Jag had the job of getting Davin ready and out the door to meet her for lunch.

Breakfast had gone down with little fuss, despite the fact that Davin thought it would be a good idea to throw his porridge on the floor, and bath time only had one minor meltdown when they couldn't find Mr. Beggiles, the inflatable duck that he liked to play with. He dressed him in his navy trousers and grey jumper that he got for his birthday and eventually he wrestled his tiny shoes onto his feet. Like always, Jag prepared the bag that they always had to bring with them which contained nappies, wipes, extra clothes, in case he soiled himself, baby food, in case the restaurant didn't have anything he would eat, and something to entertain him if he was bored.

Overall, Jagged felt like he had done a good job and with the string of confidence he was feeling, he decided today was the day to ditch the stroller and let Davin finally walk himself to meet Jaina. His argument had always been that Davin wouldn't be complaining and also would tire himself out to the point that he might even sleep completely through the night. Jag pictured a not too distant future where Jaina was thanking him for being such a great husband and father while the baby didn't disturb them for an entire night, which was an opportunity too good to turn down.

So, with the stroller parked in the hall and the ship locked up for the day, the two Fel boys set off down the boarding ramp and were hit with the warm air that was now circulating the green planet at this time of year.

However, almost immediately after they set out on their short journey, they started to hit speed bumps.

As they walked down the boarding ramp, Jag held Davin's hand with only his two fingers and watched as he enthusiastically tried to sprint down the slope as fast as he could. He could see that he was desperate to get out and run around, but Jag was worried that he would fall and trip up, which could mean a simple fall that didn't bother him, or a complete meltdown, so he didn't want to push his luck.

When they got to bottom of the ramp, Davin decided he didn't want to hold the umbrella that he had been so adamant about carrying two minutes earlier. About three steps later, he also decided that he was too hot to wear his jacket anymore and handed that off to his father too.

Despite the fact he was now carrying nearly everything, Jag still was holding out for success with his plan, that was until about twenty steps later when Davin suddenly stopped walking and began tugging on Jag's combat trousers.

"What's wrong little man?" Jag asked as he stared down at his wide-eyed child.

"Up" Davin mouthed as he threw his small chubby arms up towards his father.

The two-letter word that threw all of Jag's hard work and plans out the window. If he was being honest with himself, he had expected this to happen at some point, he just didn't think it would happen this soon.

Crouching down so he could look his son in the eye, Jag took a breath before he calmly said to the child, "No Davin, we are walking today. Remember you said you wanted to walk?"

The child was non-responsive, but Jagged knew better than to think that was because he couldn't understand. Sighing again, Jag stood up and tried to take Davin's hand back in his, but all the child did was continue to pull on his trousers. He continued to walk forward, hoping Davin would eventually accept the situation and follow him, but instead when he looked back, the toddler was sitting on the ground with his arms sprawled out in front of him. His brown eyes bore into Jag and his lip began to quiver.

"Oh, for the love of the force" Jag said as he walked over and scooped his son off the ground. "You are as stubborn as your mother, you know that?"

Almost immediately Davin's humor changed and instead of moaning, he was now looking around and mumbling away to himself as he often did. His curiosity was at an all-time high and Jag felt like he was acquiring knowledge like a sponge. Every day he would learn something new and apply it to his vocab that was vastly expanding every day. It was purely awesome to watch another human being grow from the newborn he had held in the med bay nearly a year and a half ago, to the individual being he was turning into.

"What's that?" he heard Davin ask as they reached the gates of the temple. His new favorite phrase as it just so happened.

"That's the gate."

"Gate?"

"Yep, well done. Gate." Jagged recited as he pushed open the gate and walked them into the temple grounds. Due to the warm weather, some of the students had taken their classes outside and Jag could see Jedi master Octa Ramis engaging in an exercise with her students on the grass. She was obviously helping them connect with the wild life of the grounds and although he had seen much more impressive force maneuvers, he couldn't help but look in awe as the students floated about two feet off the ground, so still that they almost looked asleep.

Octa saw his gaze and threw her hand up in a welcoming gesture and smiled as she saw Jag try and fail to return her sentiment with the hand that was holding the bag and the umbrella. He tried to encourage Davin to wave back at the master, who Jagged had come to have great respect for, but instead of waving back, he dug his head into the crook of his father's neck and almost whimpered.

For not the first time, Jagged wondered how he had ended up being such a shy and timid child. Neither Jaina nor Jagged could have ever been described as shy, even when they were young, and he had never been showing signs of his timid nature when he had been alone with his close family. Yet, when he started to venture out in the open world, he tended to opt to remain quiet and stick rigidly to his parents' side. Strangers were always a red flag for him and even people he saw regularly could be something that triggered his nerves and caused his checks to go red, as they did when he was overwhelmed.

At first, this had worried both Jagged and Jaina. It was something they had never predicted and although they encouraged the young boy to engage with others, so far, he had not taken the bate. That was a worry considering he would one day have to go to some form of education, whether it be Force based or not, and that would require him to be in direct contact with people he might not feel completely at ease with. It was important that he learned how to deal with that and not let it overwhelm him to the point it would cause problems for him later in life.

Jaina had come to the conclusion that it was her genes that had given Davin this unique part of his personality, sighting that when her young brother Anakin was a child, he too was very timid and shy. That had filled Jagged with hope, as even though he had never actually met Anakin Solo, from all he was told about him and the many people he had met that had been profoundly affected by the young man, it was obvious that he was well able to not only look after himself, but even lead the individuals around him. All of this had materialized despite his history of shyness and it encouraged the new parents to be take the reassurance that Davin would grow out of his extreme timidness and allow himself to indulge in others company.

So, when Davin had pushed his head into Jag's neck and wrapped his arm around his father's shoulders for comfort, Jagged let him and only rubbed his back in reassurance. His son would be fine, and he would come into himself eventually, he was sure of it.

Continuing on into the temple itself, the father and son duo made their way easily through the halls. Passing the grand paintings that had been saved from the temple on Coruscant before the collapse during the battle with Abeloth, Davin gazed wide-eyed at the historic pictures of Jedi that had shaped the order as it was today.

"What's that?"

"That's a painting."

"Oh."

Jagged continued on.

"What's that?" he heard again.

"That's a wall."

"Oh."

Jagged decided to mix up the conversation a little bit and asked, "Can you say wall?"

"No."

Laughing, Jagged continued on and when he reached the door into the courtyard, which was his favorite place in the entire temple. In the four years since he had started working with the order, Jag had come out to the courtyard nearly religiously every day for lunch. The light hit the square at the perfect angle so that it lit up the surrounding halls and caused the water in the fountain to sparkle almost magically. It was covered in grass and supplied the vines that tangled up the pillars that sprouted the flowers that were dotted around the entirety of the court. With each passing season, the flowers changed colors and now, during summer, they were a bright red.

Marveling at the sight as he walked through the open hall, Jag pointed out the birds to his son who was overjoyed at the way they flew up and around the water that was being pushed up from the fountains in an arch.

Before they had made it three steps, Kyp Durron appeared from out of seemingly nowhere, like he seemed to be able to do, and walked towards the pair with a sly smile on his face at the apparent mess Jag looked to be in.

At this point, Jag had a line of sweat running down his forehead from his hairline. He was also pretty sure his left arm was completely numb and if he didn't re-adjust the bag strap that was circling his wrist, he was going to cut off blood flow to his hand.

"Hey there pal" Kyp said, stopping right in front of what could only be described as a shamble of a pairing. "How is everything going?"

Jagged couldn't help but roll his eyes at the nonchalance of the Jedi master. Instead of answer him, he almost threw the umbrella and bag into the older man's arms, hoping that he could return some of the blood flow into his hands and arms. When he finally felt him arms be free of the bag straps, he twisted his wrist around a few times and felt his entire body straighten now that the weight of what felt like the entire content of his house, was off him.

"Great, now that all of that is off my plate." Jag finally replied to Kyp as he scrambled to catch the bag that had been thrown his way.

"Why am I always in the wrong place at the wrong time when it comes to you?"

"You were the one who said if we ever needed any help, you'd be there" Jag reminded the black-haired man. Kyp had finally cut his hair and was even sporting a cropped style that made the grey in his hair look like he had dyed it himself in some sort of attempt at restoring youth. It did make him look younger, but Jag would never tell him that.

"Yes, but I thought that only applied to the fun things, like teaching him how to fetch me things and listening to him telling me how great I am. His favorite uncle, as such."

As he spoke he reached out to Davin with his one free hand and tried to rub his back, but the boy, who had been eyeing him closely, let his eyes go wide and as the master's hand approached him, he threw his head back into Jagged's neck as if to distance himself from the oncoming stranger.

Granted Kyp was no stranger, but as Davin wasn't in contact with him every single day, he was firmly on the "high risk" list and needed to be distanced apparently.

"Well, if you can pry him away from me then he is all yours. However, I must warn you, he does tend to say no a lot."

"Well, we know he is definitely his mother's son then."

Smiling at the comment, Jag was about to reply, telling him he had no idea how truly a like they were, when suddenly, Davin started squirming in his arms. Plucking himself out of the corner of his neck he had shoved himself in, he also began reaching his arms out towards the courtyard. When Jagged looked over at what Dav was fussing about, he was only met with the empty halls and the quiet grass. They were alone in this part of the temple and not even the birds were anywhere near his target lock that he had seemingly been drawn to.

"What's wrong mister?" Jag asked as he bounced his son on his forearm, hoping to calm him down.

Still the infant fussed and had even began murmuring something quietly. Not confident enough to speak openly in front of Kyp, but wanting to get his information out non-the less.

When Jag leaned his ear up towards the babies mouth so that he could hear his complaint, he was only met with the soft sound of "mama."

Confused, Jag looked back up at the courtyard and realized that the boy's focus was solely on the door that granted access to the next chamber of the temple. It was where himself and Davin had been headed before they had bumped into the Jedi master and where they would head once they were done with their conversation, but looking up now, Jaina was nowhere in sight.

"Where is mama?" he tentatively asked the one year old as he turned to be more in the eyeline of whatever Davin was fixated on.

Again, the boy reached his pudgy arms out towards the door and as if on que, they suddenly opened, revealing none other than Jaina and Jedi Valin Horn walking through it.

It never ceased to amaze Jag have Davin could always seem to feel when Jaina was close by and even though he had seen much more awe-inspiring feats done by the Jedi over the years, the fact that his own son was using the force at such a young age always caused a swell of pride to ignite in him.

Not to mention the fact that Jaina was Davin's favorite person in the whole galaxy, which meant that their connection ran deeper than most. Jagged couldn't say he blamed him, Jaina was one of his favorite people in the galaxy too and he was more than happy to settle in second place on the list of people Davin would preferer to be with at any given time.

Reaching the end of the corner of the hall, Jaina and Valin stopped and looked up to see Dav furiously trying to get his mother's attention. She waved at both of them and put up her hand in a gesture that suggested she would be over in a minute. She had noticeably changed out of her robes and into a casual red sundress that had white dots spread across it and her hair was pulled back into a braid but was obviously still wet from the shower she had recently gotten out of. She was also wearing black slip on shoes that echoed through the halls when she walked, and Jag had always noticed them when she wore them, mainly because of how delicate and unlike her they were.

Turning her back on the two of them, Jag presumed she was saying her goodbyes to the younger Jedi and decided to let Davin do what he was supposed to be doing for this entire trip.

Walk to her.

Putting him back on the group, the toddler nearly tripped over his own feet with his eagerness to get down to the grass and run across to his mother who was mere meters away, but Jag held onto him until he knew he was steady the let him go while he ran as fast as his little legs could take him across the grass.

"Wow" Kyp said watching the youngling. "When did that start?"

"When did what start?" Jag said, looking back at the master, confident that Davin was ok now that he was more than half way across the yard.

"The walking."

"Oh, last month. However, he has only really started confidently in the past two weeks."

"No way" Kyp almost scoffed. "I'd say that's a whole barrel of fun, trying to keep up with him."

Jag let his face fall into a smile, thinking of how much more effort it had taken to keep up with the baby, even though he was only really running amuck in the ship.

However, before he could respond, he was cut off by a shrill cry coming from Davin, who he realized had not reached Jaina as he set out, but instead was still standing dead set in the middle of the courtyard, looking back between his father and mother, as if he was unable to decided where to go. Jag guessed that while walking towards Jaina, Davin realized Jag wasn't behind him anymore and the distance between the two was too overwhelming for the timid child to comprehend.

Before he could cross the short distance to his child, Jaina had said goodbye to Valin and walked briskly to the crying child who was almost immediately was settled when she took him into her arms and began bouncing him on her hip.

"Sorry, I thought you saw him coming when I let him go" Jag said as she crossed the grass to get to where he was standing.

"It's ok, he's fine, aren't you baby?" Jaina replied, while flashing him a smile.

All Davin could do to reply was use his small hand to reach out and rap around her braid that was flipped across her shoulder and begin to try and take out the bobbin which was holding it in place. Knowing that he was at least a minute or two away from figuring out how to pull to elastic from her brunette locks, Jaina let him fiddle with it and found herself looking from her husband to the various familiar household items that Kyp was holding in his arms.

"You didn't bring the stroller, did you?" she asked, her smile now gone and her eyes almost threatening to roll.

Instead of standing his ground, Jag could only let out a sigh or regret and slowly begin to take the items he had thrown at the master, off his hands.

"I may have over-estimated how much we could get out of him in one afternoon."

This time Jaina's eyes did roll as she threatened, "Well, you are going to have to live with the consequences of that because I am definitely not carrying him all the way into the city and back."

"Well, make him want to be held by me as much as he wants to be held by you and we might have a better chance" Jag quipped back.

Finally, Kyp let out a laugh at the two young parents squabbling back and forth, which caused them to turn their heads sharply and eye him.

"And just what do you think is so funny?" Jaina asked with the same dramatic tone she had held in her voice since adolescence.

"Nothing. Just the harsh realities of parenthood, they are great, aren't they?"

As he spoke, he handed Jag the carry bag and watched as he threw it onto his shoulder. Kyp didn't know what they had put in the bag, but it weighed a tun. How much could one need for a child that was literally less than 1/30th of the size of any of them, including Jaina who was well under the average height.

"Oh, like you would know anything about that Kyp" Jaina shot back.

"Hey! That's not fair, I looked after you two for the past twenty years, didn't I?"

That comment prompted even Jagged to roll his eyes, but the Jedi master could see the humor that was in both of their eyes as they tried not to let out a laugh. Suddenly, he felt his comlink buzz on his belt and looking down, he saw that Lindsay was trying to get through to him, probably for the fifth time today.

"Well children, that is my que to leave. Good luck with the stroller situation." Before he turned around, he tried one more time to stick out his hand in Davin's direction and give him a small wave. "Bye Davin."

Whether it was the fact that he had warmed up to Kyp in the small conversation or if he was feeling more at ease now that Jaina was there, Davin pushed his hand into the air and gave Kyp a small wave, prompting the master to light up almost immediately.

"See? I knew I was his favorite uncle deep down."

"Maybe very deep Kyp, but good luck with it" Jaina called after him as the he spun on his heel and headed for the other side of the hall.

After they watched him close the door back into the temple, indicating they were alone, Jag turned back to his small family.

"So, are you ready to go?"

"No, not yet, I need to get one more thing before we go" Jaina replied as she straightened.

"Oh, ok" Jag answered as he slid the umbrella into the bag so that he could take Davin back off her. He imagined that she had forgotten something in her locker and needed to retrieve it but as he bent forward to take his son back into his arms, she moved her hips so that Davin was moved away from him and she was pushed towards him.

Before he could realize what she was doing, suddenly her lips were on his and his surprise caused him to almost jump back. Smiling at his confusion, Jaina couldn't help but laugh when she opened her eyes again and saw his eyebrows knit together, like they usually did when he was trying to figure something out.

"I never got my kiss, that's what I need before we go" she explained.

"Oh!" Jag said again, except this time in realization. "Of course. Can't go anywhere without that."

Bending down again, Jag this time let himself relax as he captured her lips with his own and felt her breath out calm tranquility through their bond. Minding Davin all day had taken his mind off the fact that he had woken up with a hollow chest, realizing that she had left before he had woken up, but now that he was with her again, he let that relief spread through the kiss.

However, before they could finish, they felt a small hand on both of their faces, pulling them away from each other. When they did pull away, they saw Davin, obviously annoyed that he wasn't getting the attention he wanted, staring up at them.

Jaina couldn't help but laugh at her son's impatience and placed a kiss on his check, that seemed to somewhat relieve his annoyance.

"Sorry buddy, she is all yours now" Jag said as he pulled back and let his son receive the attention from his mother, he knew he had been wanting since he woke up this morning and reached down to grab his wife's free hand.

"Besides" Jaina spoke as she squeezed his hand while they walked towards the door. "This is probably adequate punishment for not bringing the stroller."

As if my fate, the moment that the words exited Jaina's mouth, Jag, trying to adjust the strap on the bag, pulled on the adjuster which caused the bag to suddenly jolt from his back, fall on the ground and spill all of the contents on the ground.

"No" Jag said in an exasperated tone. "I feel I'm going to get punished many more times today."


End file.
